Bloodstained Arrogance

Sasuke's hoarse roar still echoed across the bridge, filled with unwillingness and resolve.

But to Zabuza's Water Clone, it was nothing more than the last ridiculous scream of an ant before being crushed.

It could not even be bothered to adjust its stance. It simply used the broad blade like a door panel and swept it sideways!

Yet the expected sight of flesh and bone being severed never came.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"

In the midst of his desperate charge, Sasuke suddenly lowered his body and narrowly slid beneath the blade sweeping toward his waist!

At the same time, his abdomen swelled sharply. His hands flashed through seals, and a massive blazing fireball burst from his mouth, blasting straight at the Water Clone!

The dense mist evaporated in an instant, and the scorching blast wave warped the air.

Faced with the Uchiha clan's proud ninjutsu, surprise flickered through the Water Clone's eyes, though disdain outweighed it.

It did not even dodge. It merely raised the Kubikiribōchō horizontally before itself!

"Boom—!"

The fireball crashed against the broad blade, exploding into a shower of sparks, yet failed to harm it in the slightest.

"Not a bad struggle."

The Water Clone's voice came from behind the flames, as cold as ever. "But this is as far as you go."

Before the words had even faded, it violently shook the blade, scattering the remaining flames, then charged forward in a single step, several times faster than before!

Sasuke's pupils constricted. He had just unleashed a powerful technique, and was at the moment when his old strength had faded and his new strength had yet to rise.

He could only watch helplessly as that enormous weapon, carrying the shadow of death, rapidly filled his vision!

"Pfft—!"

This time, the Water Clone did not strike him with a slap. Instead, it smashed the broad back of the blade solidly into Sasuke's chest!

Sasuke felt an irresistible, terrifying force crash into him, as though he had been struck head-on by a battering ram!

The agony of his sternum shattering instantly spread throughout his body.

He was sent flying high into the air, tracing a miserable arc as a mouthful of blood sprayed out in a fan, staining the pale gray mist with a tragic crimson.

"Bang!"

He crashed heavily onto the freezing bridge, his consciousness rapidly blurring.

He... had done his best.

In the face of certain death, he had not broken down as he had when facing that killing intent before. He had used his strongest ninjutsu and fought back.

But the gap... was still too great...

Too weak... really... too weak...

"Not bad courage. Much better than when you could only tremble. As a reward, I'll let you die without pain."

Carrying the Kubikiribōchō on its shoulder, the Water Clone walked step by step toward the fallen Sasuke. It looked down at him from above, with no pity in its eyes, only indifference at the end of a farce.

It slowly raised the massive blade in its hand, aiming at Sasuke's waist and abdomen.

The shadow of death had never been so clear.

Sasuke closed his eyes in despair.

However, just as the Kubikiribōchō's grim, icy edge was about to fall—

"Move."

A warm, powerful hand suddenly pressed against his shoulder and pushed him backward.

The voice was not loud, yet it carried an authority that could not be questioned.

Sasuke struggled to open his eyes and saw only a familiar, arrogant blond head blocking the way before him.

It was Naruto.

He had stepped past him, facing that towering monster like the god of death and the massive blade capable of splitting mountains and shattering stone with nothing but his thin frame.

That back was so steady it made one's heart tremble!

"Naruto! Run!"

Inside the Water Prison Technique, Kakashi's eyes nearly split apart. "Are you insane?! That's not an enemy you can handle! This is an order! Run!"

Hearing Kakashi's practically heart-rending roar, Naruto could not even be bothered to turn around.

He merely rolled his neck lightly, producing a series of crisp cracking sounds, while an incomparably contemptuous curve formed at the corner of his mouth.

"Run?"

He let out a short laugh, as though he had heard the funniest joke of the century.

"A mere water-playing clone thinks it deserves to make me run?"

!!!

The instant those words were spoken, the entire area fell silent!

Sakura, collapsed on the ground, forgot to cry. Sasuke, lying sprawled out, forgot his pain. Even Zabuza's real body, maintaining the technique within the Water Prison, froze for a moment.

Zabuza's Water Clone stiffened, and fury at having been utterly humiliated instantly ignited in its cold eyes!

"You arrogant little brat!!"

It let out a furious roar, completely enraged. "Since you're so eager to die, I'll grant your wish first! Turn into minced meat!!"

"Whoosh—!!!"

Amid its roar, the Kubikiribōchō carried terrifying wind pressure that tore through the air, crashing down toward Naruto's head like a small mountain!

Yet in the face of that world-shattering blow, Naruto neither dodged nor formed hand seals.

He merely raised his head sharply, and two terrifyingly cold gleams burst from his azure eyes!

At that moment, the blood within his body seemed to transform from a gentle stream into roaring, surging rivers!

Perfect Uzumaki Sage Body... Complete Form, unleashed!

Boom!!!

A vast force of blood and vitality, visible to the naked eye and as overwhelming as a tsunami, erupted violently from his body!

His originally well-proportioned physique changed as every inch of muscle fiber swelled and knotted in an instant!

Like a war god who had stepped out of ancient Greek mythology!

Then, under everyone's ghost-stricken gazes, Naruto actually extended his right hand, spread his five fingers, and met the Kubikiribōchō's deathly gleaming edge barehanded!

He was going to... catch the Kubikiribōchō with his bare hand?!

Madness!

This guy had completely lost his mind!!!

"Clang—!!!!!"

The next second, an earth-shaking metallic crash that rang through the skies exploded!

Time itself seemed to have been paused at that moment.

Zabuza, Kakashi, Sasuke, Sakura... everyone's expressions froze in that instant into a horrifying tableau that read, "Who am I? Where am I? What did I just see?"

A horrifying tableau.

There, Naruto Uzumaki stood firmly in place. With one hand—just one hand—he casually gripped the Kubikiribōchō's blade!

That terrifying weapon, capable of splitting monuments and shattering stone, seemed welded within his palm, unable to advance even a fraction further!

But he was not completely unharmed.

The sharp blade had, after all, broken through skin as tough as steel.

A thin stream of blood seeped out drop by drop through the gap where the blade met his palm, falling onto the cold bridge and blooming into tiny blood flowers.

He was bleeding.

Yet that sight of blood did not lessen the shock he inspired. Instead, it added an indescribable savage, tangible beauty to his violent strength!

He was not a god. He could bleed.

Yet he could make divine weapons wail within the bleeding grasp of his hand!

"Tch."

Naruto lowered his head to glance at the wound in his palm, then raised his eyes toward the bandaged face filled with disbelief. The cruel smile at the corner of his mouth deepened.

"A warm-up finally managed to make me bleed a little."

The moment he finished speaking, the five fingers gripping the blade suddenly tightened!

"Creak... screech... crack—!!!!"

A teeth-grating sound of twisting metal rang out!

Under the Water Clone's horrified gaze, the Kubikiribōchō—the famed Hidden Mist ninja blade known as the "Unbreakable Blade"—was actually... crushed apart by Naruto's bare hand!

The broken blade fragment fell to the ground with a clang.

"Then..."

Naruto slowly released his grip, letting the damaged weapon fall. He raised his still-bleeding right hand and licked the blood from his palm. In his azure eyes was the arrogance and disdain of mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

"The warm-up... is over."